Trifecta – Alley Confusion

Today’s Music: V V Brown – Shark In The Water
Note on Today’s Music: The rest of her album is good, and not near as pop-ie as this. But the chorus got stuck in my head, so hear it is.

This is a response to this weeks Trifecta Challenge. It plays with a theme that keeps rattling around in my head, but I haven’t figured out how to develop it. Yet.

Oh, and to the judges, I used the definition for the challenge almost exactly. hehehe.
Hope y’all enjoy it.Wait – What?!?

Everything – every piece of fiction, even an inkling of an idea – that’s written creates a world. Bright sunny spaces, dark foreboding places, and everything in between.
I like the ideas best. It leaves us, those that populate these worlds, a lot more leeway to interpret and develop them.
Sometimes, magic can happen.
And sometimes…not.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?”
I wore my gardening apron that says “Dig It!” in bright letters. I had my toolbelt – mini-spade, a bottle of plant food in water, and a short stake to hold the bloom off the ground until she got settled.
My compatriot was not dressed for gardening.
The boots weren’t flashy. They were tough, well worn. The motorcycle jacket fit like a coat of armor, the leather of his waist holster matching the leather of the twin shoulder holsters he wore.
The twilight reflected off the long knife strapped to his hip.

“Man”, I said, “That metal’s gonna rust while we’re planting in the valley”.
He looked confused. “What valley?”
“Didn’t you read the challenge idea he wrote?” I’m going to plant a Lily.”
His palm smacked his forehead. “Can’t. You. Read?” he asked slowly, through clenched teeth. “This isn’t a fun summer outing. We’re going to be dodging bullets, hiding behind dumpsters in cramped spaces.”
“But we agreed”, I answered. “We both said we should go with Lily for the challenge”. I held up my potted plant. “I took Lily, the word and came up with Lily of the Valley!”, I finished, grinning.

He sighed, squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he whipped out his smart phone, tapped the screen and held it up to me.

Well done, dude. I can just see you sitting naively in your gardening apron when the swarthy one enters the scene. Lily sure is lucky to have a rescuer like you. I just hope you take the apron off before the blood starts to flow. It would be a shame to mess it up.

When I first read your title I thought of Ball of Confusion by the Temptations so I truly expected to see that as your song choice, but no matter. I really like this piece. It opens very strongly and pulls you in. I love the imagery of every written work being its own world. I also think you did an excellent job of giving us a sense of the two characters’ personalities simply by the way you described their attire. Very well done, my friend!

Forgive me for babbling…but that was really cool. I haven’t been able to do the Trifecta thing yet (not good at writing on demand) but you have popped a few ideas in my little brain for further reference.

Thanks for linking up with Trifecta this week. I dig this post. And the apron. Fantastic response to the prompt, really. I love the idea of two characters meeting to play out the prompt. I can see the whole thing go down. It’s all very meta. Very high brow. 🙂 Thanks for playing, El Guapo. See you back soon.

a wonderfully played out scene, Guapo… like everyone, I love the fiction w/in fiction (recursive = fractal like) w/in fiction… I was a little lost at first trying to get the logistics of it all, but you pulled an elephant outta that hat, sir!!! congrats on placing!!! I’m wondering which fella was really you?